Black Hole

What is it about summer that causes me to go two months without posting on my blog? A year ago I didn't post anything the entire month of June. This year is was July and most of August.

Summer has a way of becoming a black hole, of sorts, in life. It arrives with all sorts of promise and fanfare about nice weather, vacations, baseball games, picnics, hikes, camping, playgrounds, and tan lines. In preparation for summer people schedule time when they can get off of work. They make arrangements to travel to see friends and family all over the country. It also becomes the time, when you have kids, for events connected with church, scouts, sports, or any organization they are a part of. Before you know it it is July 4 and you are still waiting to find that stress relief as you notice that your calendar for July has more things written on it than any of the previous six months. It was kinda like that for me this year.

Now it is August 22. My children start kindergarten tomorrow. How excited Valerie and I are for them. How excited Valerie is for some peace at home. Yes, I did have occasions for rest and relaxation. My week at Bible camp was a wonderful recharge as was my fishing trip. I took Grant to a couple baseball games and all the kids on bike rides. I did some walking, but no where near as much as I would have liked. And today we took the kids to McDonald's playland for lunch: As peaceful an hour as I have had with my family all summer.

And now I finally got to blog, having escaped the clutches of summer's black hole. Now I'm looking forward to all the promises of peace that kids in school all day promises to bring. But I am a little wiser in light of my experience of summer. Peace does not come through kids away at school or vacation time... peace is found in Jesus. And no matter what time of year it is if there is time for prayer, Bible, and worship, then there is time to find peace.